Dehiscence

Day 294: Muppets. But seriously, your word for today is "dehiscence." That's what's going on here. The fuzzy-haired seed cases of Comptonia peregrina (Sweetfern) have begun to dehisc, i.e., they're splitting open to release their seeds. Each pod contains two to four hard nutlets, seen here poking out like shiny Muppet noses or beaks. Typically, very few of these nutlets will germinate naturally, and starting new plants from seed is challenging to say the least. Rather, the plant spreads by suckering, but even so, it is difficult to transplant, although I have done so successfully on several occasions. That said, I have had very little issue with unwanted suckers coming up from the parent plant. I keep my Comptonia pruned to a manageable size, and in so doing, the foliage is quite lush as opposed to the leggy appearance of Sweetfern in the wild. The leaves give off a wonderful scent on warm days, but unfortunately it is not sufficiently persistent to use in potpourri.